Sheldon In The Middle: CBS Officially Orders ‘Young Sheldon’ Series

Well, you can officially count on it. CBS has now given the full series order for the 2017-2018 broadcast season for ‘Young Sheldon,’ the spin-off from their mega-hit ‘The Big Bang Theory’ which will center around the early years of Jim Parson’s character Sheldon Cooper growing up in Texas with his conservative and religious mother.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the show is being described as ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ with a young Sheldon, with the title character being 9 years old and going to high school, and dealing with everyday life as he lives with his mother, father, twin sister and older brother. The main role of young Sheldon has gone to Iain Armitage (‘Big Little Lies’) with the role of his mother, played by Laurie Metcalfe on ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ going to Zoe Perry, who just so happens to be the daughter of Metcalfe. Rounding out the cast are Lance Barber, Raegan Revord and Montana Jordan, though their exact roles are being kept secret at the moment, though rumor has is that Barber is playing Sheldon’s dad, Jordan Sheldon’s brother, and Revan Sheldon’s twin sister.

As for the folks behind the scenes, Chuck Lorre, of course, is on board, as is ‘Big Bang’ showrunner Steve Molaro, though ‘Big Bang’ co-creator Bill Prady is not attached to the project. The team was lucky enough to nab Jon Favreau to direct and executive produce the pilot, while Lorre, Molaro, Parson and Todd Spiewak will also serve as executive producers. The format of the show will also be different than the ‘Big Bang Theory’ as the ‘Young Sheldon’ will be a single-camera series with Parsons narrating as adult Sheldon, giving the show even more of a ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ feel with maybe a little bit of the ‘Wonder Years’ and ‘The Goldbergs’ thrown in there. Personally, I could see this working out all right, the only thing worrying me is if CBS makes the asinine decision to air it exclusively on their CBS All-Access app like ‘The Good Wife’ or ‘Star Trek: Discovery,’ in which case I will be skipping ‘Young Sheldon,’ as I do not feel like giving CBS any money for their ridiculous app, at least not until they have enough proven new content on it to warrant $6 a month.

What are your thoughts on ‘Young Sheldon?’ Is it a show you would watch? Share your thoughts on the ‘Big Bang Theory’ spin-off in the comments below!

Nick is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, who belongs to the privileged few who enjoyed the ending to ‘Lost.’ For more of Nick’s thoughts and articles, follow him on Twitter.

Nicholas Graff

A Southern California native (which seems to be a rarity as everyone seems to migrate here from outside the state, and everyone else born here ends up leaving for less crowded spaces), but for Nick, he loves it here. Nick has been writing since he was a teenager, self-published his first book trilogy, 'The Legacy of the Roras' back in 2011, and in 2014 published the inaugural issue of his first comic book, 'The Shadow of Aquaterra.' While not working on my own projects, he is working as a technical film editor at a major television network in their digital media division and recently began writing news and recap articles for ScienceFiction.com, a position which he has found extremely rewarding.